Ghosts in Chorlton .... on Wilbraham Road

Now I have Sonoe Shimizu to thank for this picture of what was once the chemist on the corner of Wilbraham and Albany Roads.

Ghost chemist and future coffee shop, 2025

And the ghost sign announcing “Dispensing Chemist” has been hidden for a very long time.

That said the property has always been a chemist dating back to the beginning of the 20^th century.

Originally the entire row of shops known as Highfield which runs from Albany Road to Keppel Road had been private dwellings fronted by small gardens with access to the houses by a short flight of steps.

And some of the shops including our chemist were still on two levels with the rear of premises raised above the shop floor.

Mr. Flint's chemist shop, circa 1910

Highfield, I suspect had been planned and built as town houses with an eye to attracting residents who wanted to use the new Chorlton Railway Station which offered a quick service to and from central Manchester.

The first conversions in Highfield from residential to business use were in place by 1903, but the chemists were a little later, and by 1909 it is listed as belonging to “Francis B Flint Chemist”.

Shopping at the chemist in 1935

In its time it has been a Co-op Chemist and briefly one of the Everest chain, but as the new window signage indicates it is to become a coffee shop.

And that really is it, other than to thank Sonoe who sent me the images with the message, "Hi Andrew, I live locally in Chorlton and saw this this morning. It’s opposite Morrisons. Thought you might be interested”, which of course I was.

I too had been following the conversion work but never chose to look up and spot the ghost sign.

So there is a lesson for me.

The promise of change, 2025

The signage is a fine example of how shops once advertised their business and I hope they retain it.

And for those puzzled over the term ghost sign, it refers to products,  descriptions of businesses and individuals which longer exist

Location; Wilbraham Road

Pictures; ghost signs on Wilbraham Road, courtesy of Sonoe Shimizu, and in its former glory around 1910 from the Lloyd Collection and in 1935 A.H. Clarke, m18231 respectively, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information, and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

  

That remarkable painting of Eltham Palace .........

I like this water colour of Eltham Palace by my old friend Peter Topping.

The painting, 2025

Like many people I continue to be fascinated by Eltham Palace along with the Tudor Barn, its more humble companion just down the road.

So, if you grew up in Well Hall and were interested in history then these two old buildings were special.

Back in the 1960s the Palace was only open on Thursdays and Sundays which meant timing a visit to the school holidays or a Sunday.

But admission was free and from May to October the doors were open from 11am to 7pm and in the winter from 11am till 4, which gave plenty of scope to wander the Great Hall and indulge in shock and awe, made all the more so when I discovered the Palace's history and its place in Shakespeare's plays.

The guide book, 1958

All of which meant I could often be found on Thursday afternoons standing below the great wooden roof letting my imagination roll away.

Later still as I became less interested in the doing's of royalty and more in the lives of those who worked to keep the posh people happy I started to explore what it meant to be a kitchen servant, a laundry woman or the man in charge of the cole house.

Not an easy piece of research but I was helped by a delightful little book from the Ministry of Works published in 1958 for one shilling which acted as the "Official Guide-book [to] Eltham Palace Kent" 

Not that the author "D.E. Strong, M.A., D.Phil, formerly Assistant Inspector of Ancient Monument" gave any time in his description to our kitchen servant,  laundry woman or the man in charge of the cole house, but in the back of the book there are two plans based on the work of John Thorpe, who was the Elizabethan surveyor.

And there amongst all the important state rooms are the places that kept the Palace working, from the Slaughter House, Cole House, Pastry, Spicery and "My Lord's Butry"

The plan, 1958, based on the two Elizabethan plans

Too which I can add that series of fine line drawings of the Palace in a state of decay in the 18th century when it was a home to cows and other live stock which appear from time to time on the blog.

All of which is a far cry from Peter's painting made all the more remarkable because he is from Preston, has lived in Manchester for half a century and only knows of the palace's existence because I wax lyrical about the place on cold winter evenings in the Horse and Jockey, that Inn on the Green.

And just as Peter left Preston, I left Well Hall for Manchester in 1969,but still miss Eltham, its Palace and the Progress Estate where I gew up.

So much so that everyso often Peter comes up with another painting of home.* 

Painting; Eltham Palace, Peter Topping www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk

Pictures; Plan and front cover from Eltham Palace Kent, Ministry of Works Official Guide-book, 1958

*Painting Well Hall and Eltham, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/Painting%20Well%20Hall%20and%20Eltham

That mystery house on Beech Road ........

Now number 121 Beech Road vanished a long time ago.

Hunts Croft, circa, 1960s

It was one of our more elegant early 19th century properties which was set back from Beech Road, and went sometime in the 1970s.

For a long time after its demolition the land was left an open space, with the occasional suggestion that it could be a car park, a project which came to nought when the Corporation and the local traders couldn’t agree on a funding package.

There will be a few people who remember it, but sadly I am not one of them, which means it had gone before I arrived in 1976 or like so many things I was just not that observant back then.

Either way, there is little to mark its presence, save an entry in the tithe schedule for 1845, the Rate books and official maps.

If I have this right, it was Hunt Croft House and in 1845 was the residence of Thomas White who rented it from the Lloyd Estate.

With a lot of digging it will be possible to track its history through the 19th century till its demolition. I know that in 1969 it was occupied by a Frances. J Casse, and in 1911 by Mr and Mrs Chester, their five children, and a boarder.

Looking into the garden, circa 1970s

The house had nine rooms with a biggish garden at the front, ending in a tallish stone wall which ran along Beech Road.

Back in the mid 19th century it looked at on fields.  From the rear Mr White could look out on a field and orchard, while from his front windows he could gaze across to Row Acre, which stretched up to High Lane.

But by the 20th century the fields had all gone, and on either side of this fine old house were shops.

Beech Road, circa 1970s

And here I must admit my mistake, because for years I had mistaken Croft House for Joel View which stood a little further down the road and had been built in 1859.

Many will remember Joel View as the property owned by J Johnny, which I assumed had been built much later.

I even compounded the mistake by arguing that the stone tablet which carried the  name of Joel View had been salvaged from Mr White’s former home and been added to J. Johnny’s.

Dating the picture

Now, even then I knew that this was pushing it, because our own historian Thomas Ellwood had written that Joel View was one of the new developments in the township at the end of the 1850s.

All of which goes to show that sometimes when it is easy to ignore the obvious and create an elaborate theory which is built on sand and that is really just a lead in to two pictures of Hunt’s Croft sent to me by Roger Shelley who took them sometime in the 1970s and which had lain in his negative box until yesterday.

The two images compliment an earlier one taken by N. Fife for which I don’t have a date for, but maybe from the 1960s.

That said it might be possible to date Roger’s pictures, from the shop which is up for sale.  This had been Mr Westwell’s fruit and greengrocer shop in 1969, but sometime in the next decade became The Village Wholefood Shop.

Hunt's Croft demolished, circa 1979-early 1980s

It was still trading when I took a picture around 1979, showing the shop and the site which had once been Hunts Croft.

So that is it for now, although I am hoping Roger has more pictures.

Location; Chorlton



Pictures; Hunts Croft circa 1960s, courtesy of N Fife, the Lloyd Collection and again circa 1970s from the collection of Roger Shelley, and after it had been demolished circa 1979, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

The Arndale …. a night club, three lost buildings and a house in Chorlton-cum-Hardy

I never knew that maze of streets, squares and courts which existed between Market and Cannon Street and which were bounded by High Street to the east and Corporation Street to the west.

That maze of streets, squares and courts, 1951

They were indeed a maze, with some of the courts only accessed by narrow alleyways which led off from almost equally narrow streets.

They vanished when the Arndale was built, leaving the curious to search for them on old maps, photographs, and in newspaper clippings, or trawling through official reports of the Police and the City Council.

As early as 1942 the Corporation signaled its intention to redevelop the area, and in 1970 compulsorily purchased eight acres, with construction work for the Arndale beginning the following year.

Of course, there will be plenty of people who still remember that pre-Arndale warren, which included places like, Marsden Square, Cromford Court, and Cock Pit Hill

But memories fade, added to which there will be plenty more who have no knowledge of what now lies under the Arndale.

The Wishing Well, 1967

What set me off today, was not that maze of streets which I have written about already*, but a group of three unremarkable looking buildings photographed in 1967.

They stood on the corner of New Brown Street and Cannon Street, and what first drew me in, was the entrance to the Wishing Well which occupied cellar of Kitchen warehouse.

According to that excellent site, The Pubs of Manchester, the Wishing Well was  a “restaurant-cum-nightclub …. Originally the 'City Restaurant', the Wishing Well was so-named due to a shaft (and some bones) that was unearthed in the basement in 1954 by an electrician.

The owners thought it was a well, so they made a feature of it, building a faux brick wall round it, complete with winch and bucket on a rope.  Not to mention the model skeleton they hung next to it which must have gone down well with diners and drinkers.

The three buildings, 1967

The Wishing Well became a popular late-night haunt, more of a bar than an eatery, and at weekends it became Cord Disco, named after the owner's American car”.**

There is much more, but rather than steal some else’s research I suggest you follow the links.

Leaving me to focus on Walton’s Buildings.

The name Walton crops up across the Rate Books in the 1830s, tied to properties in the area around Cannon Street and New Brown Street, with a specific reference to Walton’s Buildings in 1838, and in the maps during the next two decades.

Walton's Buildings, 1967

What is even more intriguing is that the one in our picture comes as a collection of properties located either side of Marsden Court, which was accessed through the entrance beside the doorway of Walton’s Buildings.

And in the fullness of time I shall go looking for Mr. or Mrs. Walton.

But for now, I am equally fascinated by the last of the three buildings.  This was number 44 Cannon Street, which is listed on Goads Fire Insurance map of the late 19th century as a “warehouse & factory” , which in 1911 was home to the business of Albert E. Moore shirt manufacturer”.

Not that there is anything over remarkable in that, this was after all, an area full of small factories and warehouses.

So, I wasn’t surprised that when our picture was taken in 1967,  number 44, was home to the firm of I Shevloff who had been trading in textiles at various locations since the early 1920s.

 Shevloff, 44 Canono Street, 1922

But what makes I. Shevloff a little different is that I have been following the family’s fortunes for a while, having first come across them when they took up residence at 22 Edge Lane in Chorlton around about the time they opened their first business in Manchester.***

Both Mr. and Mrs. Shevloff were originally from London, although he had been born in the Russian part of Poland as had Mrs. Shevloff’s parents.

And in the course of telling their story I encountered a number of people who remembered visiting the warehouse as children and one who could describe Mr. and Mrs. Shefflov.

All of which confirms that simple observation that history is messy and to misquote the film, is a little like a box of chocolates, because you don’t quite know what you are going to get.

22 Edge Lane, 2019

And I have to say just got a bit messier, but just that bit more interesting, because no sooner had the story gone live, Brenda posted a comment about the Hidden Well, where she worked in the 1950s and 60s.

“I worked as a waitress at the Wishing Well in the late 50s and early 60s. 

The owners were the Britain’s. 

Loved that place. So sorry it isn’t there any more.  

As they say in the article, it had a fake well. 

And back with the Wishing Well, 1967

There were 2 sides - the one where the well was which was a quite upscale coffee bar/restaurant that was open until quite late. 

The other side was only open during the day for lunch and dinner. Old Mrs Britain was a great pastry cook. Made delicious deserts. I was just there on Saturdays and in the holidays when I was off school.
Really fun place to work”.

All of which takes me full circle, because we started with the Wishing Well, and have finished with Brenda’ memories, and in between met Mr. Shevloff who no doubt passed it every working day, leaving me to speculate on whether he called in.  But that, as well as being very unhistorical is a story for another time.

Location; Manchester and Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Pictures; New Brown Street and Cannon Street, 1951, from the OS map of Manchester, 1951, the three properties, 1967, "Courtesy of Manchester Archives+ Town Hall Photographers' Collection",
https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/albums/72157684413651581?fbclid=IwAR35NR9v6lzJfkiSsHgHdQyL2CCuQUHuCuVr8xnd403q534MNgY5g1nAZfY and 22 Edge Lane, the home of the Shevloff’s, 2019, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind The Doors-City Centre, Peter Topping & Andrew Simpson, 2016

** The Pubs of Manchester, http://pubs-of-manchester.blogspot.com/2010/03/wishing-well-cord-disco-new-brown.html


***At 22 Edge Lane; https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/At%2022%20Edge%20Lane

The lost Eltham & Woolwich pictures ...... no. 33 ..... building the barrier

Now for many the Thames Barrier will just be one of those bits of river furniture, but for those of us who remember it being built, it was a fascinating engineering project, and this is the first of a few pictures taken during its construction.

For four decades it was one of the photographs I took of Eltham and Woolwich in the mid ‘70’s which sat undisturbed in our cellar.

But all good things eventually come to light.

They were colour slides which have been transferred electronically.

The quality of the original lighting and the sharpness is sometimes iffy, but they are a record of a lost Eltham and Woolwich.

Location; Woolwich

Picture; Woolwich circa 1976, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Snapshots ……….. meeting out justice in 1854

Now the story as reported was not unusual, and consisted of a rather nasty opportune assault and theft in a public place.*

The crime, May 10th 1854

Pick any newspaper for any decade, and there are a depressing long list of similar crimes, which in the 19th century were usually dealt with in a harsh way.

All of which meant that I didn’t give much thought to the story of the young woman, who was assaulted and robbed by two young men in the May of 1854.

But I was drawn back partly because I felt ashamed at dismissing what was obviously an awful experience, partly because the woman was on her way to Chorlton-cum-Hardy and finally out of curiosity at the fate of the two who committed the crime.

The newspaper account ended with the committal of the two, to the sessions at Preston

And that would have been that, but for the simple inclusion of the names of the thieves, which in turn led to the discovery of the sentencing of the two.

The sentence, May 22nd 1854

The crime had taken place on the Saturday, the two were committed on the Monday, and on Monday May 22nd they were up in front of the magistrates and were charged with “Larceny from the Person” and sentenced to “4 months” with “1 week in Solitary Confinement and once whipped”.

During the sessions, the magistrates saw 155, cases, most were for different gradations of larceny, with a few for obtaining money or goods under false pretences, three for counterfeiting silver coins, and five for Riot.

The longest sentence was for 2 years, with most being given between three and four months incarceration.

In the case of William Barlow and Robert McMillan, both got four months in prison, with a week in solitary and both were whipped.

This marks them out from the other larceny cases and might reflect the nature of their crime, but we don’t have any details of what the magistrates said.

But the five committed for Riot were acquitted.

Sadly, so far I have been able to track what happened to our two after their appearance, and nor do we have a name for the young woman.

Location; Manchester

*Highway Robbery, Manchester Guardian May 10th, 1854

A little bit of the Woolwich I remember

Now I am back with another of those excellent photographs of Woolwich from the collection of Stephen Bardrick.

I don’t have a date but it can be no earlier than 1935 when the Woolwich opened its grand new headquarters just here.

The cars will be the clue to fixing the time the picture was taken and for me it is far more familiar a scene than the present one.

But that I suppose is the fate of the ex pat.  You leave somewhere you grew up thinking that the buildings and even the street patterns are parked and will just be where you left them and then you come back and it is all different.

For me it started with the entrance old railway station which looks nothing like the wooden building I remember moves on to the row of shops on either side and ends opposite with that open space in front of the 1935 building.

At which point I am in danger of sounding like one of those grumpy old uncles who comes for Sunday tea and can’t quite come to terms with seeded granary sandwiches, the absence of carnation milk to pour on the equally absent bowl of tinned fruit and yearns for fish paste  and sliced ham.

Still I bet he would have been able to date the picture and may just have been old enough to remember when the Woolwich had its headquarters at 113 Powis Street and may like many of us disapproved when it ceased being an organization owned by its members and became a bank in 1997.

I can’t remember what I did with my account but liked the old TV ad “I’m with the Woolwich” and was pleased that for almost a decade they sponsored Charlton but less pleased that they were bought up Barclay’s ending what had been a proud independent history which stretched back to 1847.

Picture; Woolwich Equitable Building Society Offices, date unknown, courtesy of Steve Bardrick